Boat

HISTORY OF BOATS

The first boats were rafts made from logs lashed together and paddled by hand. These simple watercraft were likely one of the first inventions that allowed early humans to venture out onto bodies of water for fishing, transportation, and exploration.

Rafts were made by gathering logs or large pieces of buoyant wood and tying them together with vines, ropes, or other materials. These rafts were effective for navigating calm waters like rivers and lakes. The use of hand paddles, made from sticks or flat pieces of wood, allowed people to steer and move the raft across the water.

As humans continued to innovate and develop their boat-building skills, they progressed to hollowed-out tree trunks (canoes) and later built boats from other materials like reeds, animal skins, and eventually wood planks and metals as technology advanced.

The 10,000 year old Pesse canoe, the world's oldest known boat, was found in a Dutch peat bog.

The Ancient Egyptians used bundles of reeds from the River Nile to build reed boats and were the first to attach sails to them. They also built boats from planks of wood tied together with string.

The Phoenicians capitalised on seafaring trade in the Mediterranean. They used oars as well as sails and navigated by the stars. They reached the coasts of southern Europe and North Africa.

For many centuries, rivers were the great natural highways, the Thames the greatest of them all. Bridges were non-existent; boats provided the link from shore to shore. Watermen thus filled a significant place in London's life. At one period their number exceeded 40,000 (in a population of just over six million). As nowadays commuters stand on street footpaths to signal a passing taxi, so wayfarers then from numerous piers used to beckon a barge-man to take them up or down or across the river.

The right side of a boat was called the starboard side due to the fact that the astronavigators used to stand out on the plank (which was on the right side) to get an unobstructed view of the stars. The left side was called the port side because that was the side that you put in on at the port.

The Experiment was an early nineteenth century boat powered by horses running on a treadmill and propelled by a then-novel type of screw propeller.

The 72-year-old Alexander Graham Bell set the world water speed record in 1919 by reaching speeds in excess of 70 miles an hour in his hydrofoil boat. For many years it was the fastest boat in the world. 

Australian Ken Warby set the world water speed record of 317.60 mph on his boat Spirit Of Australia in New South Wales on October 8, 1978. The record still stands today. Warby's record is difficult to break because of the high speeds involved. At these speeds, even a small mistake can be fatal. The boat is also subjected to massive forces, and it can easily break apart if it is not properly designed.

The Spirit Of Australia a special boat called a hydroplane, which is designed to skim across the surface of the water at high speeds. Hydroplanes are powered by jet engines, and they can reach speeds of over 500 km/h. 

Model of the Spirit of Australia. By Matilda Wikipedia

BOAT TRIVIA

The most popular boat name in the U.S. is Aquaholic. This name has been popular for several years, and it is a reflection of the growing popularity of boating in the United States.

The key difference between a ship and a boat is a ship can carry a boat, but a boat cannot carry a ship.

The phrase "jet lag" was once called "boat lag", back before airplanes existed.

Here is a list of songs about boats

Board Game

There is some debate among archaeologists and scholars about the exact dating of the earliest-known game boards. Some artifacts, particularly from Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, dating back to the Neolithic period (around 9,000-6,000 BC) have markings or depressions that could be interpreted as game boards. However, these interpretations are often contested. The markings might have had other purposes, like religious rituals or record-keeping.

There are clearer examples of game boards from the Early Bronze Age (around 3,300-2,100 BC). These include boards found in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) and ancient Egypt. These boards have distinct features like playing squares, markings for pieces, and even dice or game tokens found alongside them.

Senet is one of the oldest ever board games. The game dates from ancient Egypt from around 3100 BC and was even referred to in Chapter XVII of the Book of the Dead.The full name of the game in Egyptian was zn.t n.t ḥˁb meaning the "game of passing".

Below is a game box and pieces for playing the game of Senet found within the intact KV62 tomb of king Tutankhamun

The game of backgammon was first played over 5000 years ago. The game's history can be traced back to the ancient civilizations of the Mesopotamian region, which encompasses present-day Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, and parts of Syria and Turkey. The game evolved over time and spread to other parts of the world, including the Middle East, Greece, and eventually the Roman Empire. It gained popularity in various civilizations due to its simple rules, element of chance with dice, and strategic elements. In the Middle East, backgammon has maintained its popularity throughout the centuries, becoming a beloved traditional board game

The Royal Game of Ur is a two-player strategy race board game that was first played in ancient Mesopotamia over 4,500 years ago. The gameboard is composed of two rectangular sets of boxes, one containing three rows of four boxes each and the other containing three rows of two boxes each, joined by a "narrow bridge" of two boxes. The gameplay involves elements of both luck and strategy. The game was popular across the Middle East among people of all social statuses and boards for playing it have been found at locations as far away from Mesopotamia as Crete and Sri Lanka. 

Royal game of Ur gameboard found by Sir Leonard Woolley in the Royal Cemetery at Ur,

 
Vikings enjoyed board games such as Chess and Kings' Table where there are two sets of pieces attackers aiming to capture the King and defenders aiming to get him safely to the edge of the board. Game boards have been found scratched into floors and rocks. Pieces could be stones, shells, carved of wood or ivory, clay figures or anything like that.

Chutes and Ladders was a 13th-century Indian game called "Mokshapat" that was designed to teach Hindu values. The game made its way to England and was sold as "Snakes and Ladders", then the basic concept was introduced in the United States as "Chutes and Ladders" by game pioneer Milton Bradley in 1943.

The earliest known modern board game went on sale in 1759 in the United Kingdom priced eight shillings. John Jeffreys devised the game, called A Journey Through Europe, or The Play of Geography. It was a race game, with players moving their pieces around a board representing the countries of Europe. The first player to reach the end of the board won the game.

The original version of The Game of Life board game, created by Milton Bradley in 1860, was called The Checkered Game of Life. It was US's first popular parlour game. The game board was divided into 63 squares, each representing a different stage in life. The player would start at the "Infancy" square and move their piece around the board, making decisions about their education, career, and family.

The Checkered Game of Life was a much darker and more serious game than the modern version of The Game of Life and the possible outcomes of the game were much more varied. The player could end up in a variety of different professions, including doctor, lawyer, merchant, or criminal. They could also end up in poverty, ruin, or even suicide.

The modern version of The Game of Life was originally published in 1960. It was created by toy and game designer Reuben Klamer 

The first mass-produced, travel-sized board games were made for bored soldiers during the American Civil War.

George Swinerton Parker founded Parker Brothers in 1885. The first game produced was Banking, in which the player who amasses the most wealth is the winner. Their best known game is Monopoly.

Mark Twain invented a 3-piece board game called Mark Twain's Memory Builder: A Game for Acquiring and Retaining All Sorts of Facts and Dates. The game was designed to help players memorize historical facts and dates. It consisted of a board with 100 numbered squares, each representing a year. Players would take turns placing pins on the board, each pin representing a different fact or date. The player with the most pins on the board at the end of the game won.

Memory Builder was not well-received by the public. Critics found it to be too complicated and boring. The game was also expensive, which made it inaccessible to many people. Published in 1891, it was a commercial disaster.

After selling the rights to Monopoly in 1935, Charles Darrow became the world's first millionaire game designer.

Anthony Ernest Pratt, a Birmingham musician working in an engineering factory during World War II, created the game of Cluedo. He came up with the idea for the game in 1943, while he was playing murder mystery games at country hotels. He named the game Murder!, but it was later renamed Cluedo.

In a game of Cluedo, the odds of correctly guessing, on the first attempt, the correct murderer, location and weapon used are 323-1.

Chris Haney and Scott Abbott invented Trivia Pursuit in 1979. They were both journalists working at the Montreal Gazette, and they came up with the idea for the game while they were playing Scrabble. They were frustrated with the fact that Scrabble didn't test their knowledge of general trivia, so they decided to create a game that did.

Haney and Abbott spent two years developing Trivia Pursuit. They wrote the questions, designed the board, and created the game pieces. They also had to find a company to manufacture the game. They eventually found Selchow and Righter, a toy company based in New York City.

Trivia Pursuit was first published in Canada in 1981. It was an immediate success, and it was soon released in the United States. 

Risk, is a board game in which players try to dominate a map of world. When Parker Brothers tried to introduce a German version of Risk in 1982, the German government threatened to ban it on the grounds that it might encourage imperialist and militaristic impulses in the nation’s youth.

In 1986, Rob Angel, a 24-year-old waiter from Seattle, Washington, developed Pictionary, a game in which partners try to guess phrases based on each other's drawings.

Before getting a driver's license in Sierra Leone you have to buy a board game called The Drivers' Way and play it at least once. The game involves rolling stoplight-themed dice and moving models of classic cars around a board, together with answering questions about the country’s road laws.

More board games are sold in Germany than anywhere else on Earth.

BMW

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, abbreviated as BMW, is a German multinational manufacturer of luxury motor vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Germany.

The name reflects the company's origins in Bavaria, Germany, where it was founded and where its headquarters remain to this day. The company's logo, which features a rotating blue and white propeller, also pays homage to its Bavarian roots and represents the company's history as an aircraft engine manufacturer.

HISTORY

BMW's roots can be traced back to the early 20th century. In 1913, Karl Rapp founded Rapp Motorenwerke GmbH, an aircraft engine manufacturing company, in Munich. The company primarily supplied engines to the German military during World War I.

In 1917, Rapp Motorenwerke faced financial difficulties, and the company was restructured, leading to the formation of Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH. The company continued to produce aircraft engines and diversified into motorcycles.

Bayerische Flugzeug Werke advertisement

BMW's first motorcycle, the BMW R32, was introduced in 1923. It featured a distinctive boxer engine layout that became synonymous with BMW motorcycles. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, BMW motorcycles gained popularity and earned a reputation for their engineering excellence.

In the 1930s, BMW expanded into automobile manufacturing. Their first car, the BMW 3/15, also known as the "Dixi," was based on the Austin 7 and produced under license in Germany. In 1936, BMW released its own original design, the BMW 328 sports car, which became renowned for its performance and design.

During World War II, BMW focused heavily on producing aircraft engines and military equipment for the German war effort. 

BMW used prisoners from concentration camps like Dachau to build their cars and airplane engines during World War II. By the end of the war, almost 50% of the 50,000-person workforce at BMW consisted of prisoners from concentration camps.

After the war, the company faced challenges as it had to halt aircraft engine production temporarily and deal with the division of Germany. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, BMW resumed motorcycle production and introduced a new line of motorcycles. In the 1950s, the company also started manufacturing cars again, with models like the BMW 501 and 502, which helped stabilize the company's financial situation.

In the early 1960s, BMW faced financial difficulties once more. However, the company's fortunes changed dramatically with the introduction of the "New Class" sedans, including the BMW 1500. These models showcased a modern design, excellent performance, and affordability, leading to a significant sales increase for BMW.

BMW 1500 By Michael H. Wikipedia

In the 1970s and 1980s, BMW solidified its reputation for producing sports-oriented luxury cars. The company adopted the iconic slogan "The Ultimate Driving Machine" to emphasize the driving dynamics and performance of its vehicles.

BMW expanded its global presence by establishing manufacturing facilities in various countries, including the United States. The 1990s saw BMW's entry into the SUV market with the launch of the BMW X5, which became a popular luxury SUV.

BMW purchased Rolls-Royce Motor Cars in a $570 million deal. The sale included the Rolls-Royce brand name, the Rolls-Royce factory in Goodwood, England, and the Rolls-Royce design and engineering team.

In the 2000s and beyond, BMW continued to innovate with advanced technologies, electric and hybrid vehicles, and the incorporation of cutting-edge features into their cars. The "i" sub-brand was introduced, showcasing BMW's commitment to sustainable mobility with models like the BMW i3 and i8.

Today, BMW remains one of the leading luxury automakers globally, known for its high-performance vehicles, innovative engineering, and iconic designs. 

BMW FUN FACTS

The BMW Headquarters is a landmark in Munich, Germany. The site has served as world headquarters for BMW since 1973. 

Designed by Karl Schwanzer, the exterior of the tower at BMW's HQ is supposed to mimic the shape of a cylinder in a car engine, with the circular museum representing the cylinder head.

A New Zealand dealership ran an advertisement on April Fools Day 2015 that read "April Fool's Day Special - Come with any old car and receive a brand new BMW". One woman turned up with her old Nissan and got a brand new BMW with the number plate "NOF00L"

BMW recalled its GPS systems with female voices in Germany because male drivers were not willing to take directions from a  female voice.

The engine on the BMW M5 is so quiet that the company plays fake engine noises through the speakers to “remind” drivers of their car’s performance.

Stunt driver Michele Pilia drove a BMW tilted on two wheels for 230 miles to break a Guinness World record. The feat took him almost 14 hours.

Enid Blyton

English children's writer Enid Mary Blyton was born on August 11, 1897 in East Dulwich, London, the eldest of three children, to Thomas Carey Blyton (1870–1920), a cutlery salesman, and his wife Theresa Mary Harrison Blyton (1874–1950).

She was educated at St. Christopher's School in Beckenham from 1907 to 1915 leaving as head girl.

Blyton was a talented pianist, but gave up her musical studies when she trained as a teacher at Ipswich High School. She taught for five years at Bickley, Surbiton and Chessington, writing in her spare time.

In 1922 Enid Blyton published her first book, Child Whispers, a collection of verse, but it was in the late 1930s that she began writing her many children's stories featuring such characters as Noddy, the Famous Five, and the Secret Seven.

First edition

Malory Towers is a series of six novels written by Enid Blyton between 1946 and 1951. The books were based on Benenden, the school that Blyton's daughter went to.

Enid Blyton was the school tennis champion and lacrosse captain at St Christopher's School in Beckenham. She was also said to have enjoyed playing strip tennis.

Blyton's love of tennis is reflected in some of her books. For example, in her Famous Five series, the children often play tennis together. In one of the books, Five on a Treasure Island, the children even win a tennis tournament. She even wrote a book about the sport called Tennis for Beginners.

On 28 August 1924, Blyton married Major Hugh Alexander Pollock, DSO (1888–1971), editor of the book department in the publishing firm of George Newnes, which published two of her books that year.

In the mid-1930s Blyton experienced a spiritual crisis, but she decided against converting to Roman Catholicism from the Church of England because she had felt it was "too restricting". Although she rarely attended church services, she saw that her two daughters were baptised into the Anglican faith and went to the local Sunday School.

By 1939, Blyton's marriage to Pollock was in difficulties, and she began a series of affairs. In 1941 she met Kenneth Fraser Darrell Waters, a London surgeon with whom she began a relationship. During her divorce, Blyton blackmailed Pollock into taking full blame for the failure of the marriage, knowing that exposure of her adultery would ruin her public image. She promised that if he admitted to charges of infidelity, she would allow him unlimited access to their daughters. However, after the divorce, Pollock was forbidden to contact his daughters, and Blyton ensured he was unable to find work in publishing afterwards. He turned to drinking heavily and was forced to petition for bankruptcy.

Blyton and Kenneth Waters married at the City of Westminster Register Office on October 20, 1943, and she subsequently changed the surname of her two daughters to Waters. Pollock remarried thereafter. 

Enid Blyton asked readers of her magazine, Sunny Stories, in a competition to name the Beaconsfield home she and her husband moved to in 1948. They chose, a touch unimaginatively, Green Hedges.

Blyton's second marriage was very happy and, as far as her public image was concerned, she moved smoothly into her role as a devoted doctor's wife, living with him and her two daughters at Green Hedges.

During World War II, Blyton worked as a volunteer at a military hospital, where she helped to entertain the patients. 

Malory Towers is a series of six novels written by Enid Blyton between 1946 and 1951. The books were based on Benenden School in Kent, which her daughter Gillian attended from autumn 1945 to summer 1949.

Blyton's husband died in 1967. During the following months, she became increasingly ill. Afflicted by Alzheimer's disease, Blyton was moved into a nursing home three months before her death; she died at the Greenways Nursing Home, London, on November 28, 1968, aged 71 years and was cremated at the Golders Green Crematorium where her ashes remain.

Her books have enjoyed huge success in many parts of the world, and have sold over 600 million copies. Blyton's works have been translated into nearly 90 languages.

Blues

Blues music is a genre with deep roots in African-American history and culture. It originated in the Southern United States in the late 19th century, developing from a mix of African musical traditions, work songs, spirituals, and folk music. The blues became a significant musical form that has had a profound impact on various other genres, including jazz, rock and roll, and R&B.

The most common and recognizable form of the blues is the 12-bar blues progression. It consists of three lines of four bars each, following a specific chord pattern (I-IV-V) that repeats throughout the song.

Originally a blues was a song of sorrow, sung slowly to the accompaniment of piano or guitar. A blues is 12 measures long, and typically the first line is repeated.

Depending on whom you ask, the blues can be all kinds of things with all kinds of meanings. But the derivation of the phrase is clear: "the blues" comes to us from "the blue devils," a nineteenth-century mental affliction that the OED defines as despondency or spiritual depression. And even before that, British authors of the sixteenth century used to write of being in a "blue funk."

A blues tradition developed separately from that of jazz, but blues harmonies and the 12-measure form have always enriched the jazz tradition.

Country blues had its roots in the rural areas of the American South.  It was characterized by its raw, acoustic sound and often featured solo performances by itinerant musicians using acoustic guitars, harmonicas, and other simple instruments. Country blues spoke of the hardships and experiences of African-Americans in the rural South, reflecting their daily struggles and emotions.

During the early 20th century, the Great Migration saw the movement of millions of African-Americans from the rural South to urban areas in the North and West, seeking better economic opportunities and escaping the oppressive conditions of the Jim Crow era. This mass migration brought rural blues musicians into contact with new audiences in cities like Chicago, Detroit, and New York, which had more extensive recording and entertainment industries.

W.C. Handy's early hit blues song, "The Memphis Blues" was published in 1912. Handy (November 16, 1873 - March 28, 1958) is credited with popularizing the blues by publishing the song "St. Louis Blues" in 1914. It became one of the first blues compositions to achieve national recognition. Often called the "Father of the Blues," Handy was one of the first composers to incorporate the blues idiom into song forms and orchestrations.

Mamie Smith was the first blues singer to appear on the pop charts. Her song, "Crazy Blues," was released in 1920 and sold over a million copies. This was a major breakthrough for the blues genre, as it showed that there was a large audience for blues music outside of the African-American community.

 By the mid-1930s, country blues was being influenced and transformed by the emergence of urban blues, but it did not entirely replace it. Instead, a new style called Delta blues, named after the Mississippi Delta region, began to gain popularity and influence within the broader blues genre. Delta blues is characterized by its raw and emotive sound, often featuring solo performances by talented bluesmen who played slide guitar and used bottleneck techniques. Artists like Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, and Son House were key figures in the development of Delta blues.

Many an early bluesman in the Delta made his first steps toward learning the guitar by nailing one end of a wire to a wall and playing the wire like a guitar string.

 Robert Johnson is considered one of the most influential figures in the history of blues music. He was a skilled guitarist and a master of the slide guitar and bottleneck technique. His distinctive and innovative guitar playing, along with his haunting vocal style, set him apart from other blues musicians of his time.

Although Johnson's recordings were not big commercial successes during his lifetime, his music has had a profound and lasting impact on the blues genre and beyond. His songs, such as "Cross Road Blues," "Love in Vain," and "Sweet Home Chicago," showcased his virtuosic guitar skills and emotional delivery, making him an influential figure in the development of Mississippi Delta-style blues.

Louis Jordan's 1942 hit song "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" is often credited as one of the first, if not the first, jump blues record. Jump blues is a style of blues that emerged in the 1940s, characterized by a lively, up-tempo rhythm, horn-driven arrangements, and a strong influence from swing and jazz music.

After many black Americans moved from the rural South to Northern cities in the 1940s, Chicago became the center of blues recording. There a new kind of blues began to appear. It featured electrically amplified guitars, and even harmonicas, and drummers who emphasized afterbeats (beats 2 and 4 of each measure; nearly all blues are in 4/4 meter). The simplest boogie-woogie rhythms were the basis of Chicago blues.

Blind Willie Johnson  (January 25, 1897 – September 18, 1945) was a blues guitarist who was blinded as a boy, abused by his father, and died penniless from disease after sleeping bundled in wet newspaper in a burnt down house. 

A revival of interest in Johnson's music began in the 1960s, following his inclusion on Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music.  Carl Sagan preserved his legacy by selecting one of his songs , "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground," for the Voyager Golden Record in 1977.

Muddy Waters is often credited with popularizing electric blues. He embraced amplified instruments, which transformed the sound of the blues and laid the foundation for modern blues and rock music.

B.B. King earned the title "The King of the Blues" for his immense contributions to the genre and his iconic guitar playing style.  King named his beloved guitar "Lucille" after a woman who was at the center of a fight that resulted in a fire at a venue where he was performing. He rushed back into the burning building to save his guitar and subsequently gave it the name "Lucille" as a reminder never to do something so foolish again.

In the mid-20th century, the blues also played a significant role in shaping rock and roll, with many rock musicians drawing inspiration from the blues' rhythmic and emotional elements.

Blues music has seen the contributions of many influential women, such as Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Etta James. These talented artists broke barriers and played a crucial role in shaping the genre.

The Blues Foundation established the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 to honor the achievements of the most significant figures in blues music history. It includes musicians, producers, promoters, and others who have made a lasting impact on the genre.

Sources http://www.shmoop.com/blues-history/trivia.html, Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc

Bluegrass

Bluegrass music is a unique and beloved genre that has its roots in American folk and country music. 

Umpqua Valley Bluegrass Band

Bluegrass, as a distinct musical form, developed from elements of old-time music and traditional music of the Appalachian region of the United States. The Appalachian region was where many English and Ulster-Scots immigrants settled, bringing with them the musical traditions of their homelands. Hence the sounds of jigs and reels, especially as played on the fiddle, were innate to the developing style.

Why the word bluegrass itself was adopted to label this form is not certain, but is believed to be in the late 1950s, and was derived from the name of the seminal Blue Grass Boys band, formed in 1939 with Bill Monroe as its leader. Due to this lineage, Bill Monroe is frequently referred to as the "father of bluegrass."

The Blue Grass Boys were named after Monroe's beloved Kentucky, the Bluegrass State. The Blue Grass Boys joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1939 and subsequently toured with the Opry road show. Monroe's band attracted a variety of performers. Over the years more than 100 different musicians played with his ensemble.

Bluegrass is grown for fodder in the southern states of the United States, especially in Kentucky and Virginia. it is as green as any other grass and gets its name from the colour of its blossoms.

In 1948, what would come to be known as Bluegrass emerged as a genre within the post-war country/western-music industry, a period of time characterized now as the golden era or wellspring of "traditional bluegrass."

Traditional bluegrass bands typically include acoustic instruments such as the banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and upright bass. The combination of these instruments creates the characteristic sound of bluegrass.

The "Bluegrass Boys": Bill Monroe and his band, the Blue Grass Boys (later renamed The Bluegrass Boys), played a crucial role in popularizing the genre. Many famous musicians, like Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt, were part of this band at different times.

Banjo player Earl Scruggs contributed the three-finger five-string banjo technique which became standard.

The Dobro (an acoustic guitar with a metal resonator) became another typical bluegrass instrument from 1955.

Bluegrass is known for its distinctive vocal harmonies. The vocal style often features high-pitched, tight harmonies, with different band members taking turns singing lead and providing harmonies.

"Blue Moon of Kentucky" by Bill Monroe is the Official Bluegrass song of the state of Kentucky. It was later famously covered by Elvis Presley, who transformed it into a rockabilly hit.　

Sources Hutchinson Enyclopedia © RM 2012. Helicon Publishing is division of RM, Wikipedia

Bluebird

The bluebird is a small and brightly colored bird belonging to the thrush family (Turdidae). It is well-known for its striking blue plumage, which varies in intensity depending on the species. 

Bluebirds are typically small to medium-sized birds, with a plump, rounded body and a short tail. They have short, slender beaks and strong legs that are well-suited for perching and foraging. The most distinguishing feature of bluebirds is their vibrant blue color, which is most prominent in the males. Females tend to have slightly duller colors, often with more gray or brown mixed in.

Bluebirds prefer open habitats with scattered trees and ample grassy areas. They are commonly found in meadows, farmlands, parks, and suburban areas with adequate nesting sites.

Bluebirds are cavity nesters, meaning they build their nests inside natural or human-made cavities, such as tree hollows or birdhouses. They are known for using nesting boxes provided by bird enthusiasts. Bluebirds lay several eggs, and both parents take turns incubating the eggs and caring for the young.

Bluebirds primarily feed on insects, such as grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars, and spiders. During the winter months, they also include fruits and berries in their diet.

Bluebirds are often associated with happiness, joy, and good luck in many cultures. They are featured in songs, poems, and folklore, symbolizing hope and positive change. In the United States, bluebirds have been a symbol of optimism and prosperity, and the phrase "bluebird of happiness" is a popular expression.

Vera Lynn famously sang of "bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover in her 1940 hit "The White Cliffs of Dover." This is a factual inaccuracy as bluebirds are an American bird and can't be found in the vicinity of Dover.

Al Larson is a self-taught conservationist who since 1978 has dedicated his life to saving North American bluebird populations, building and monitoring 350 nest boxes all across southeast Idaho. In part from his conservation efforts, bluebird populations have significantly rebounded.

The bluebird is the quintessential helpful garden bird. Gardeners go to extreme lengths to attract and keep them in the garden for their beneficial properties. Bluebirds are voracious insect consumers, quickly ridding a garden of insect pests

If a birdbath is available, the Eastern Bluebird will find it. If the water is moving, so much the better. Their bath time antics can be heard from quite a distance.

Bluebirds love mealworms and can be drawn in with a small dish filled with them.

A bluebird can spot caterpillars and insects in tall grass at a distance of over 50 yards.

The Eastern Bluebird is an extremely social creature. They will gather in large flocks of a 100 or more.

Males carry nest material to the nest, but they do not participate in the actual building.

Adult bluebirds tend to return to the same breeding territory year after year, but only about 4 percent of young birds return to where they hatched.

Bluebirds can’t see the color blue.

Source Wausau Daily Herald

Blueberry

Blueberries are small, sweet, and nutritious fruits that belong to the Vaccinium genus. They are native to North America and have been consumed by Indigenous peoples for centuries. Blueberries are widely known for their distinctive blue color, but they can also be found in shades of purple, black, and red, depending on the variety.

There are several types of blueberries, including the highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) and the lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium). Highbush blueberries are commonly cultivated and found in grocery stores, while lowbush blueberries are smaller and often used in wild harvesting.

Blueberries have been a part of the diet of Indigenous peoples in North America for centuries. Native American tribes, such as the Ojibwe, Cree, and Penobscot, used blueberries for both food and medicinal purposes. They consumed them fresh, dried, or mixed with animal fats to create a type of pemmican.

When European settlers arrived in North America, they were introduced to blueberries by the Indigenous populations. The settlers quickly adopted blueberries as part of their diet, and they also learned about various medicinal uses for the fruit.

Legend has it that early American colonists boiled blueberries with milk to make gray paint.

New Jersey agricultural specialist Elizabeth Coleman White, whose family owned a cranberry farm, teamed up with botanist Frederick Coville to develop and cultivate the first blueberry crop. White paid people for each bush they found with blueberries that measured at least 5/8 of an inch (16 mm). Coville uprooted and grafted them.  In 1916, White and Coville successfully cultivated the first blueberry crop, selling it under the name Tru-Blu-Berries.

During World War I, children in England were given time off school to pick blackberries. They were collected for the production of juice that was sent to soldiers to help maintain health.

During World War II, British fighter pilots ate bilberries, also called European blueberries, to improve their night vision.

Blueberries are grown in many regions worldwide, with the United States, Canada, and Chile being some of the largest producers. They thrive in acidic soils with good drainage and require a cold period during their dormancy, making them well-suited for temperate climates.

Wild blueberries are a major economic driver for Maine, generating over $1 billion in annual sales. Maine's blueberry industry employs over 10,000 people

Georgia has the longest harvest blueberry season in the US, lasting from late April through the end of July.

Bilberries are the most abundant berry in Sweden. They are slightly smaller than North American blueberries, have less sugar, and are a deep crimson color inside. Bilberry bushes are found all over Sweden and cover close to 20% of all the land. They are also consumed in large quantities as a blueberry soup (blåbärssoppa) during Vasaloppet, the oldest cross-country ski race in the world. 

Blueberries are considered a "superfood" due to their high nutritional value. They are rich in antioxidants, particularly anthocyanins, which give them their deep blue color and provide various health benefits. Blueberries are also a good source of vitamins C and K, manganese, and dietary fiber.

A 2012 study suggested that eating at least one serving of blueberries a week slowed cognitive decline by several years.

Blueberries and raspberries have the same pigment compounds, anthocyanins. Blueberries are purple because they are less acidic. If you add an acid like vinegar to crushed blueberries, they will turn red. Adding a base like baking soda will return them to purple.

The world record for hands-free eating of blueberry pie is 9.17lb in eight minutes. It is held by Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti, an American competitive eater. at the Stand By Me World Pie Eating Championship in 2007. The Stand By Me World Pie Eating Championship is an annual event that is held in New Jersey. The competition consists of contestants eating as much blueberry pie as they can in 8 minutes. Bertoletti's record of 9.17 pounds is the highest total ever recorded in the competition.

Many products that claim to include blueberries actual contain blueberry juice or imitations of blueberries. Imitation blue berries are often made of corn syrup and blue dye. Kellogg's justified the lack of blueberries in one of their cereals by defining "blueberry muffin" as a flavor.

Bluebell

The common bluebell is a perennial plant that grows from a bulb. They have slender, arching stems that can reach a height of up to 50 centimeters (about 20 inches). It produces 3–6 linear leaves, all growing from the base of the plant, and each 7–16 millimetres (0.28–0.63 in) wide.

Bluebells belong to the asparagus family (Asparagaceae). 

The distinctive bell-shaped flowers of the bluebell are the plant's most recognizable feature. They hang down in clusters called racemes, each containing several drooping flowers. The flowers are typically a deep, vibrant blue-violet color, although they can occasionally be pink or white in rare instances. The blooms have six petals, fused together to form a tube with flared, pointed tips.

Bluebells are known for their sweet, enchanting fragrance, which adds to their charm and allure.

Bluebells are woodland plants that thrive in dappled shade beneath trees, where they form extensive carpets of blooms. They prefer moist, well-draining soils and can often be found in ancient or deciduous woodlands, parks, and gardens.

It is estimated that 25%–50% of all common bluebells may be found in the British Isles. It is also found in Belgium, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain, and also occurs as a naturalized species in Germany, Italy, and Romania. It has also been introduced to parts of North America, in both the Pacific Northwest (British Columbia, Washington and Oregon) and the north-eastern United States (Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia,).

The bluebell starts growing in January with the sole purpose to flower before the other woodland plants which have stalled because of the dry weather.

Archaeological evidence suggests that bluebells were already well-established during the Neolithic period.

Bluebells have been the subject of various myths and folklore. In British folklore, bluebells were believed to be magical and enchanted. It was thought that fairies used the flowers to lure unsuspecting travelers into their realm. As a result, people were cautious not to disturb bluebell patches, lest they incur the wrath of the fairies.

Bluebells found their way into poetry and literature during the Romantic era. Writers and poets, including William Wordsworth, saw the bluebell as a symbol of simplicity and natural beauty. Wordsworth's famous poem "Lines Written in Early Spring" includes a reference to bluebells: "And 'tis my faith that every flower. Enjoys the air it breathes."

The bluebells you'll see in United Kingdom towns and cities are most probably the Spanish invader, Hyacinthoides hispanica, not the common bluebell.

In the United Kingdom, H. non-scripta is a protected species and landowners are prohibited from removing common bluebells on their land for sale and it is a criminal offence to remove the bulbs of wild common bluebells.

All parts of the bluebell plant contain glycosides, which can be toxic if ingested. While they are not usually fatal, consumption can cause digestive issues and discomfort. As such, it's essential to avoid eating or allowing pets or livestock to consume bluebells.

Bluebells are pollinated by bees and butterflies. The flowers produce a sweet nectar that attracts these insects, and the insects help to spread the pollen from flower to flower.

Bluebells are often associated with humility and gratitude, and in the language of flowers, they can represent everlasting love and constancy.

Source Wikipedia